Luongo Left In Disbelief

Keenan: `They Came Back Wanting More'

June 25, 2006|By Steve Gorten Staff Writer

Vancouver, British Columbia — Roberto Luongo may have still been the Panthers' goalie today, but one more financial request from his agent in the final hours angered team officials enough to abruptly end negotiations and his tenure with the franchise.

Luongo said Saturday he felt comfortable a compromise to save his future in South Florida was imminent when he hung up with his agent, Gilles Lupien, about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

About 8 p.m., Luongo "had a bad feeling in my stomach" and Panthers General Manager Mike Keenan called -- the team's first communication with him since coach Jacques Martin had called that morning. You've been traded to Vancouver, Keenan told him.

"Very shocked," Luongo said during a conference call from Montreal on Saturday morning. "Especially after we made great strides yesterday. ... I'm really sad because I didn't think this was going to happen. ... I'm still under the shock of trying to tell myself, `I just got traded.'"

Late Saturday afternoon, he was still confused. "I thought the deal was done," Luongo said by phone. "There's something fishy in this whole thing. I don't know what happened during that time window."

What went wrong?

Luongo said he agreed Friday to drop his demand for a one-year qualifying offer at $3.2 million and was prepared to sign for four years on three conditions:

The Panthers make a public statement they would not trade him this year before a no-trade clause could be inserted.

They hire Francois Allaire, who hails from Luongo's hometown of Montreal, as his goalie coach.

They re-sign Jamie McLennan as his backup.

Luongo said he then never heard from the Panthers again.

Martin said Saturday night there was an effort to reach Lupien again, but that he wasn't reachable.

"[Luongo] indicated he'd accept the four-year deal, but at significantly more than $25 million," Keenan said. "They came back wanting more."

That's what Keenan said was communicated to him from Martin, who on the final day of Luongo's six years with the team served as a liason between the goalie and GM, who didn't trust each other.

"In all of this Jacques is the one person I really trusted the most and I could talk to," Luongo said.

Luongo's only hope of staying in South Florida was signing for four or five years and Martin needed to know by 6 p.m. Luongo said he told Lupien he'd accept their four-year offer. Lupien said Saturday he then told Luongo "we have to ask for something more since we're letting something go," meaning the one-year demand.

Lupien said he told Luongo, "I'm going to ask for more money and see if they say no or not" and Luongo left his fate in Lupien's hands. Lupien said he called Martin and told him they would accept a four-year deal, but were requesting closer to $26 or $27 million, as he felt Luongo's market value was $6.5 to $7 million a season. Luongo said Saturday he wasn't insistent on any figure, but assumed Lupien and the Panthers would reach some agreement because Panthers CEO Michael Yormark had called him Friday and, according to Luongo, were "working out the little differences" financially.

Saturday, Luongo's former teammates reacted.

"Anytime you hear about the Florida Panthers, you think of that name -- Roberto," defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski said. "Since he's been here, we've tried to build around him. Now we have to take a different turn. ... We can't sit around and pout."

Captain Olli Jokinen, who re-signed for four years in March with the assumption Luongo also would, couldn't be reached for comment in Finland. "Him and Louie were together for so long ... I can't speak for Olli, but I think it's going to be hard for him," Gratton said.

Following the trade, Martin sent an e-mail to season-ticket holders in which he wrote this "immediately makes us a playoff-caliber team."

"I have stated in the past that one of the reasons I came to this franchise was because of Roberto Luongo," Martin wrote, "however this trade was simply too good to pass up."